Take My Hand
by skadagalen
Summary: Milton lead a very plain and calm life only to find out the whole world has changed one morning. (So basically this is my attempt at showing how Philip and Milton reacted and survived the early days of the apocalypse. Rated M for later chapters )
1. Chapter 1

Everything had been normal when he'd gone to bed that night. The same routine for the past 2 years; Get up, go to work, talk to his only friend at work, come home, read and sleep. Having a solitary life was ok with Milton Mamet; he never was into the whole hype of having friends. Needing to keep up with the bustle of everyone else outside his apartment wasn't of any interest to him. His social skills made it hard when he did try, eventually he just settled on being alone.

He had gotten used to his routine, but that following morning said a new life was ahead. It was when he was deep in sleep, the dreams quiet and calm; he heard his name being called frequently. They became more hurried, louder.

The tug on his leg brought him out of his sleep; everything was blurry without his glasses. The figure above him speaking to fast for him to register what was being said. Milton grumbled, stretching a hand in search for his glasses on the nightstand. Placing them on his face he sat up to see a familiar face staring right at him, face filled with panic and desperation.

"Philip? What on earth… How'd you get in my place?"

"Come on get up! We need to go now; I've already thrown some of your stuff in a bag." Philip didn't give him time to respond before gripping Milton and yanking him out of his bed, shoving clothes in arms. Pushing him out the bedroom door, Philip only continued to go on about needing to leave, Milton's was still fuzzy from sleep, and god what time was it even?

"What the hell? What's going on, Philip slow down stop shoving me!" Milton turned to glare at his Co-worker; he noticed that his face was only getting more and more panicked. He knew he wasn't going to get a response from him at this rate; he turned for the washroom to get dressed.

Emerging from the bathroom, Milton headed to where he could hear Philip rummaging through his kitchen. He was frantic when shoving some of his food into a bag, noticing other personal things from his home he lifted and eyebrow.

"What are you robbing me? Seriously, what's going on?"

"I'll explain when we get to the ca-"

"No, I need you to explain now! Why are you waking me up and shoving my belongings into a bag!"

Philip zipped up the bag and handed it to Milton; he gave him a pleading look. Milton sighed heavily, before nodding his head.

"Quick summary at least?" He at least wanted to know what the hell Philip was dragging him into. Why was he in such a hurry to get him out of his home?

"Let's just say, it's not…" Philip paused, how did one explain this? "-Normal out there, people are dying, some kind of virus. Ya' know that one on the news lately." He didn't know how to put it; you can't really explain this sort of situation very easily without sounding crazy.

Everyone thought it was a hoax the first few times it was mentioned. When photos and more reports started to flood in of cannibalistic traits of the infected, people began to take it more seriously. Some were still skeptical. When it started to hit the more populated areas, was when they finally started to realise they needed to take action. No one was any longer in doubt about it, this was killing worldwide and fast.

Milton had been following it, he didn't believe it to a degree. He knew it was impossible for someone to come back after death and walk around again. Cannibalism was definitely real, but the walking dead made no sense.

Milton shook his head, "So, by what you're saying right now, I have to leave because of some virus?"

Philip let out a sigh of frustration, he pushed passed him and headed for the door, "Look, I came here to save your ass, now let's go!" Milton shook his head in defeat, he gave him credit though, and no one else would come to get him, whether or not the world was really ending.

Putting on his shoes, they both left. Heading down the apartment hallway Milton tried keeping up with Philip who seemed to keep walking faster and faster till he was practically running down the hallway to the stairwell.

While Philip made his way down the steps gracefully, he was practically tumbling down, he knew his friend was panicking and the possibility of absolute chaos was waiting for them outside… but was this really necessary?

Milton was no longer in doubt the moment the doors of the apartment building opened to reveal the streets. It was straight out of an apocalyptic movie. Screams were heard on every end of the streets, there were people running in all different directions, people hurriedly packing their trunks and getting in their vehicles. Some were motionless on the ground.

It was completely different from what he saw the previous morning; the simple daily routines of every individual were now distorted. It was a sick nightmare, and Milton wanted to run back into his apartment, but it wouldn't just disappear. He had no other choice but to go with Philip now.

A tug on his arm snapped him out of his thoughts, "Quickly!" Without thinking he just ran to the car with Philip, the quicker they were in there the better. Fear consumed him entirely. From everything he had seen so far, in just that one minute of opening the door, he knew his life was never going to be the same.


	2. Chapter 2

When they reached the car Milton was fast to hop into the passenger seat while Philip threw their bags into the trunk. Getting into the car next he shut the door quickly before turning to look in the back seat, there sat was a shaking little girl and another man.

"Penny, sweet heart, you ok?" Philip reached into the backseat to grab her small shaking hand; he looked up to the man in the back seat with her, "Anything happen while I was gone, Dan?"

Dan simply shook his head, then look over to Milton who was fumbling with his seat belt. Raising his eyebrows he glanced back to Philip, the questioning look came onto his face before speaking. "Seriously, this is why we had to stop? You can-"

There was a smack at the passenger window, Milton jumped and tried to get as far as he could from the window. A bloodied face was pressed against the glass, snapping its teeth. Milton froze in terror while Philip tried to calm the screaming girl in the back.

"Dan, I need you to calm her down, don't let her look anywhere but that backseat, got it." It wasn't a question, it was a command and he kept his grip on his daughters hand while doing so. He needed to establish the importance of this and wanted no arguments about it.

Milton was shaking in his seat; he couldn't take his eyes off of the thing at his window. People were already infected to this degree, and it terrified him to no end. He took one look at Philip before finishing putting his seat belt on with shaking hands. If home was this bad, what was it like out there?

Philip started the car putting it in drive, not even acknowledging the person smearing its torn face against the window. Out of everyone in the car he was the calmest; it didn't overly surprise Milton in the least. He didn't seem the type to be frightened by much, but in this situation one should show some reaction to a corpse at your window.

Making their way through the city had been a pain, half of the city was fighting to get out, and the road leading to the main drag was jam packed. The scenery on the way through had been terrifying, Dan kept Penny distracted as best he could, keeping her talking, and not looking anywhere but the back of the car.

It was calmer on some ends of the city then others. Some were filled with just as many of those things then there were people, on other streets there was only empty roads.

Milton hadn't moved the moment the car had started, while Philip was becoming increasingly frustrated with how many roads had been blocked. He was sure they had been up and down almost every street looking for another way other than the main drag. Dan made a point that it would only be a graveyard in a few hours if we followed that route.

Philip was running out of options on the other hand, there wasn't much choice other than to go through with everyone else. Pulling over to the side of the street he just placed his head on the steering wheel, hands clutching it on either side.

"Do you know any other road that wouldn't be blocked? You made a fair point earlier and I'm not risking our lives on that road." Philip kept his head down as he spoke, there had to be more options. He wasn't risking his daughter's life on that damned highway. It would be a domino effect if one were to be bitten or already infected.

Dan shook his head; he was out of possible routes out. The military had arrived much faster than anticipated blocking off any other exit to stop the mass hysteria, but at the same time only made things more difficult. Cramming every vehicle onto one road was not the way to go, but it was too late to bring that up now.

"M-maybe try moving some of the blocks on t-the street. If you manage to move a few you should be able to get on the side and drive around." Philips head raised at the suggestion from Milton, his face dropped to a humiliated look. He twitched slightly; why hadn't he thought of that? It would have saved gas and time.

His head dropped back onto the steering wheel, "Alright, we'll do this one up ahead then?" Dan's voice interrupted Philip's sulking, and Philip could practically hear the amusement in his voice. He cursed the man silently, he didn't think of it either…

Looking up from the wheel again he looked over at Milton, "Me and Dan will go move them once we get there, can you just stay in the car with Penny?" Milton simply nodded; it wasn't like he'd be much help to them moving the blocks anyway. Philip and Dan practically towered over him and were to a degree, built.

Milton sat in the back with Penny, he sang along with her to her kid rhymes they would learn from other kids at school. She tried to teach him the hand movements to them, but Milton was clueless, he never did this as a child. The rhymes were even more confusing to him; it only made him frustrated when the little girl was besting him at something that sounded so simple.

She stomped her rhyme and looked up to him, "Do you think we'll be ok Uncle Milton?" her voiced wavered a bit, she looked desperate for a hopeful answer. Her small face started to redden as Milton's face only got darker.

He didn't know what to say to her, he didn't even know himself. He looked up to look out the window, Philip and Dan were struggling to move one of the cement blocks on the side walk. He's only known Philip for two years but he knew they would be in good care with him. He's always butted heads with him over ridiculous things, but knew he meant well.

"I think we're going to be just fine." He looked back down at her and smiled slightly. Penny smiled back and continued with her rhymes. Milton's smile quickly faded as he looked back up. He didn't know why but he knew somewhere down the road, Dan was going to become a problem.

Dan was impatient, cold and vile. All three of them worked in the same office and within close range of each other. Philip made to get his job done and end their bosses constant nagging. Milton wanted to finish up and leave for the day. Dan wanted to cause havoc, he constantly pulled stunts in other offices, he was the main reason Milton hated his job so dearly. When Philip wasn't there he was a punching bag, he was treated like everybody else; worthless. He was more important than everyone else.

He felt the door behind him open, "You want to drive for a bit?" Philip was holding the keys out to him for him to take. Milton took them and climbed out of the back letting Philip take his place. Dan was making his way over to the car, and Milton felt sick. It was going to be a long ride.


	3. Chapter 3

The drive out of town had gone smooth so far apart from the rising tension between Milton and Dan. Philip was in the back seat with his daughter wrapped up in his arms, both passed out cold. The broadcasting was putting out for people to head for Atlanta, vaccination tents and shelter. It seemed like a good start, and only another 2 hours away.

The drive seemed to drag on longer then it was meant to be, and radio was no longer optional, it was all broadcasting places for shelter. Constant warnings to stay away from infected, if bitten do not come to vaccination stations. They got more graphic as time passed; it was becoming hard to hear the warnings that came on.

Everything had gone downhill so fast and only got worse with every minute. A voice in the back of Milton's mind said to not go into Atlanta, but this was Philips order and he trusted his judgement. Maybe there would be a cure soon and everything will clear up, but still that small voice kept screaming not to go. All the reports of cities being under lockdown, no one enters or leaves and that was enough to cause panic to rise in him.

He wanted to bring it up to Philip but he decided his superstitious mind would have to take a rest for now. Dan reached over to the radio and switched it off, he huffed "What a load of crap."

"I was listening to that."

"Well not any more Mildred."

"It's Milton!" Milton practically shouted, every time he heard that name come out of Dan's mouth his blood boiled. How many times he wished Dan would just vanish was an astonishing number, but it wouldn't happen. Milton looked in the back quick to make sure he hadn't woken the two in the back; luckily they were still fast asleep.

"Why Philip decided to bring you I have no idea…" Milton murmured to himself. He didn't know why you would bring the number one asshole you know. _Maybe he'll use him as bait._

"Because I'm actually _useful,_ and what are you? Just some geek from the office that has nothing going for him. But look at the bright side; you make a good sitter for his daughter when we're actually doing work."

"I'm his friend that's why."

"You really believe that? Philip doesn't make friends, he uses people. That's it, that's all. You don't mean a damn thing."

Milton tried to block the last statement out; he didn't believe that one bit. Philip had willingly defended him and invited him to his house frequently so that he'd have company instead of sitting in his apartment alone. Allowed him to stay more than once, treated him like family.

He knew Philip cared for him; he wouldn't have been in such a rush to drag him from his house otherwise.

The mystery here was still the reason for bringing Dan, "So you are ok with the fact that Philip is just using you?"

"It means I live, what do I care otherwise." As soon as he had said that realization hit Milton hard; he knew there was no way Philip would just bring him out of the blue. Dan _asked_ to come, and Philip _needs_ an extra pair of hands, he was right when he said he was useful. Milton wouldn't have been able to move the cement blocks with Philip.

Milton just shook his head, and kept driving.

They arrived just after dark, the last hour and a half and been decent, nobody said a word. The radio remained off for the remainder of the drive, and was probably a huge mistake now. Milton's eyes widened, his head filled with profanities as he peered through the windshield.

"Jesus…" Dan got out of the car the moment Milton brought the car to a stop. He let out a heavy sigh, this wasn't good. He turned and tapped Philip to wake him up, "Come on, get up. You need to see this." Philip grumbled in response to being disturbed. He nodded slowly "Alright, give me a minute." Unwrapping Penny from his arms and laid her back down in the car.

Milton got out and waited for Philip to get out as well. Shutting the doors they made their way to stand over where Dan was. "No…" The word fell from Philips mouth; he wanted to believe that what they were looking at wasn't happening.

In front of them were people surrounding their vehicles watching this unfold as well. Just beyond that was Atlanta, the amount of booming and red clouds coming from the center of the city was horrifying. They heard the screams gasps of the people in front of them as the whole city was being bombed.

"What the hell do we do now?" Dan turned to look at Philip, who stood silently for a few moments before looking back at the car, "We keep moving, we'll find another place sooner or later. Turn the radio on, see what's happening." He turned back towards the car, they couldn't stay here. They would just have to find another road back the way they came.

Sorry for the short chapter, I have other work to do but I promise the next one will be longer! And slightly more interesting…


	4. Chapter 4

_Milton stood awkwardly outside of Philips house; he had been invited over for dinner by him and his wife. He had never been invited over for anything; this was a whole new experience, making friends. Not even in school had he made a single friend and years later still he was just as alone. Philip was his very first friend and he wanted to make a good impression._

_When the door opened Philip smiled down at him, Milton returned and he felt his nerves die down slightly. He felt more comfortable around him than anyone else, and just the pure fact that he never made Milton feel low._

"_Hey, you made it, come in." Philip stepped to the side to let Milton in; closing the door after his co-worker he patted him on the shoulder. "I'll introduce you to the family."_

_He followed Philip through the house to the kitchen, he felt himself grow nervous again as he saw Philips wife make her way to them. He wasn't quite equipped with the greatest social skills and was plainly visible when he found it very hard to reply hello to her._

_He shut his eyes and cursed at himself mentally, but he heard her laugh softly and opened his eyes to look at her. "Don't worry; it's ok to be nervous." Her voice was sweet and she looked at him with understanding. _

_He found himself smiling at her as the nerves went back down again, the night should turn out to be just fine. _

_After they had cleared the mess from dinner, Philip's wife went to put their daughter to bed leaving Philip and Milton to themselves in the living room. _

"_See? Went a lot easier then you thought it would." Philip sat next to Milton on the couch; both of them just looked straight ahead at the wall. "Somewhat. I still think I worried your wife at some point during dinner." Philip chuckled at his friends' response, shaking his head. "You didn't. She just feels bad for ya."_

_Milton snorted, "I don't need anyone to pity or feel sorry for me." _

_Philip looked to his friend, his eyebrows furrowed, "We didn't invite you here because we pity you, we invited you here because you're my friend. I wanted you to meet my family because I felt that maybe you need people in your life who care-" _

_Philip paused for a second to study Milton's face. His friends face had begun to turn a slight red; he turned his face away in attempts to hide his growing emotion from Philip._

_Philip sighed and clapped him on the back, "We are here for ya, and I wanted you to know that."_

_Milton started to shake slightly; this was not going the way he had thought. He had felt that at some point they would leave him like everyone else who had pitied him. They all felt bad but none of them had truly cared. _

_Philip was showing that it wasn't like that at all, and his family was practically inviting him to be a part of something he never had. He felt warmth spread and it wasn't anything he had experienced before. The feeling of care. _

_Milton turned to look at his friend, he gave small smile. He knew he would cherish this friendship and do anything to keep it. _

The memory had started to fade when Milton felt someone shaking him, his eyes fluttered open with Dan's face coming into view.

"We're having a bit of trouble, mind getting off your ass."

"What's going on?" Milton sat up straight, he hadn't realised he fell asleep in the back of the car. Looking out the car window, noticing they were now parked on the side of an empty road with trees surrounding it. It seemed calm, no other cars, clear road and no signs of infected.

"We ran out of gas, looks like we didn't hit that gas station after all. So guess what, we're walking. Now come on." Dan got up and out of the car; Milton followed and shut the car door. He let out a heavy sigh; leaning against the car he put his head in his hands. This was going to be even more miserable than he thought.

The drive was annoying enough listening to Philip and Dan, but no, this time he got to go on a fun nature walk with them. He hoped they would just reach a location that would either evacuate them or assist them.

If only he could wake up, hope that this was all a terrible dream. But it was real and it was happening now.

"Here, you can carry your own bag." Dan sneered at him and shoved a bag into his arms. Milton was already growing impatient, he had just woken up and he already wanted to punch him. The fact of the matter is Milton didn't know how to punch, and he didn't feel like wasting his time trying.

Milton walked silently behind Philip and Penny. He held her hand tightly, glancing down every few moments at her to see if she doing ok. But he hadn't uttered a single word, not to anyone. Milton wondered why he was so quiet, it wasn't like him to remain silent for so long.

Looking passed the two Milton saw Dan in front, who seemed to be commanding their direction. Dan made it clear that they would first find some where to stay the night. Milton hoped they would even find a place. They were literally in the middle of nowhere, it was just an empty road that went on for miles, not even a back road was found.

He felt his feet grow tired every minute they kept walking, the bag on his shoulders seemed even heavier as well. His head slumped downwards, looking at the ground as he kept his feet moving. It was when he heard something odd that he looked back up. It wasn't come from any of them; he felt a pang of panic as he turned his head around.

Milton's heart dropped, his stomach turned, when an oh shit fell from his mouth Philip turned to see what happened. Instead he was greeted with the same wave of panic.

Behind them wasn't just one or two but a crowd and a lot closer than expected. Their tiredness and lack of awareness had allowed them to miss this, and had nowhere to go but forward. Milton felt Philip tug on his shirt and pull him, Dan was the last to turn and see the approaching threat.

None of them thought of it before they ran, Philip picked up Penny and held her as he ran, Milton right behind. Despite the running they only seemed to come closer and Milton felt himself losing his balance. Trying to regain it he only fell, face coming into contact with the hard concrete.

Philip looked behind him and stopped, he debated on what to do before he felt Dan take Penny, "Go get him now, I got her. Go!" Dan began to run forward again as Philip went over to get Milton onto his feet again.

He pulled him to his feet, "Come on!" Gripping Milton's hand he tried to get him to move faster, but Milton struggled with getting his feet to co-operate with him.

Milton felt fear take over him completely, Philip called his name but everything went silent. They were only 10 feet away and Philip didn't have time for Milton to freeze up. He gave him one final tug on his arm and practically screamed his name.

Milton felt himself move without consent, and they both started to run again. Philip still had a firm grip on his friends' hand, keeping his friend aware that he wasn't leaving him.

As they neared Dan, a stone structure came into view. Dan waved to them before disappearing behind one of the walls. Upon arriving they turned around the same wall as well. It was a giant square with stone walls, but no sign of Dan.

Philip felt a light smack on the side of his head, looking up Dan offered his hand to lift him up onto the ledge. Philip did the same for Milton as soon as he was up. It wasn't soon after a few of them had wondered into the stone structure as well.

All four of them backed up as much as they could to avoid being seen, breathing heavily they watched them wander back out. Right then it became clear that this had become even more difficult than they had imagined. After only 48 hours there were already crowds of them.

This time Philip felt panic take over him, he wrapped his arms around his daughter as he closed his eyes. They needed to figure a plan out, somewhere to stay. The facts ran through his head, the cities were being shut down, bombed, and waves of infected were already making their way through.

He knew it wasn't as simple as getting to an evacuation center, he knew that in these 48 hours, the whole world had begun to shut down. It was just them now, and it was going to be much harder than ever.


End file.
